Zatanna Zatara learned early on that magic was in her blood—but she had no idea how right she was. Her father, Giovanni “John” Zatara, was a stage magician whose act concealed his very real magical abilities. Growing up, Zatanna followed in her father’s footsteps, becoming a stage illusionist. Her own power manifested while searching for…
George “Digger” Harkness was born to an American soldier and an Australian woman. An illegitimate child, Harkness grew up in poverty but quickly discovered a talent for both crafting and using boomerangs. As a young man, he got a job working for a toy company, demonstrating the use of their boomerangs. When audiences ridiculed him,…
Charles McNider was a brilliant doctor and surgeon who believed in doing the right thing. He was removing a bullet from a mob witness one night when mobsters threw a grenade into the room, killing the witness and blinding McNider. McNider was recovering at home a short while later when an owl crashed through his…
Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1956, David Victor “Dave” Sim dropped out of high school to pursue a career in comic books. In the 1970s he worked on a fanzine, The Now and Then Times (Now and Then Books was the comic book store Sim had worked at for his first job) and then…
Lana Lang was one of teenaged Clark Kent’s closest friends, and Superboy’s biggest fan—he was romantically interested in her as well, and she was sometimes referred to as “Superboy’s girlfriend.” Lana was a normal human girl with no powers of her own—until one May 16th when she rescued an insectoid alien from a fallen tree….
Born in 1957, Garry Leach studied Graphic Design at St. Martin’s School of Art. His first work in comics was on 2000 A.D., but he quickly became known for his art on the series The VCs. In 1981, Leach joined Quality Communications as art director. He was also the first artist on Alan Moore’s revival…
Born in Jamestown, New York in 1924, Brad Anderson started cartooning as a child. He attended Brocton Central School for high school, and while there sold his first cartoons (to an aviation magazine). Anderson served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, then attended Syracuse University’s School of Fine Arts. After graduating college, Anderson…
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1946, Marvin A. “Marv” Wolfman got his start in comic book fandom before joining DC in 1968. In 1972, he moved to Marvel Comics under editor Roy Thomas. After Thomas left, Wolfman’s friend Len Wein became editor-in-chief, but a year later he passed the position on to Wolfman. Wolfman…
Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1915, Anthony Joseph “Tony” Strobl graduated from the Cleveland School of Art in 1937 (along with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster—Strobl helped them fine-tune a character concept they were working on, which they called "Superman") and began working for Disney a year later. His first project was doing “in-between” art…
Born on May 11, 1962 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Sandy Carruthers remembers watching the Batman television series when he was only a toddler. He began drawing soon after that, and hasn’t stopped since. Carruthers attended Holland College from 1979 to 1981, training in its Commercial Design (now Graphic Design) program, then studied illustration at…
Vincent T. Hamlin was born in 1900 and grew up during tumultuous times—he enlisted in the Army at age 17 and served in France during World War I. After returning home, he studied journalism and art at the University of Missouri, but was kicked out of art class because his teacher told him he was…
Born in 1947, Barbara Slate started out in greeting cards before moving to comics. In 1974, she met with a greeting card buyer from Bloomingdales and showed him 24 feminist greeting cards she had designed. Thus, the "Ms. Liz" line was born. Ms. Liz then became a comic strip in Cosmopolitan, and then an animated…
